The jury in the trial of a leading acupuncturist on a sexual assault charge failed to reach a verdict after almost four hours deliberations at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court yesterday.
It was the third day of the trial of the man who denied sexually assaulting a female patient in her home on November 27th, 1996.
Judge Joseph Mathews told the jury of five women and seven men it was better to disagree on a verdict rather than have any one of them who held an honourable opinion, pressurised into agreeing with the rest for the sake of conformity. He remanded the accused man on continuing bail for mention of the case again on November 24th next.